Free A New Beginning by Amelia C. Adams Page B

suggested.
    “I’d like that very much. Thank you.” Elizabeth hung up her apron, went outside to where Cleophas stood waiting, and mounted. “Thank you, Tom,” she called out, and was on her way.
    As she rode, Elizabeth’s thoughts wandered to her mother. Agatha had coughed several times throughout the night, and Elizabeth wasn’t sure if it was caused by the dust being kicked up on the road, or if her mother was getting sick again. Her lungs had been weakened the previous winter, and Elizabeth didn’t know if she could withstand another illness.
    When she arrived at the house, though, she found that everything was just fine.
    “Please thank Miss Hampton for the tea she sent home with you last night,” Agatha said. “I’ve been sipping on it all day, and I do believe it’s helping.”
    “I’ll be sure to let her know.” Elizabeth bent and picked up Rose, who surely must have grown an inch since that morning. “Miss Hampton has a good heart, and she said she hoped you were well.”
    “Has Mr. Brody said anything to you about when you would receive your wages?” Agatha lowered herself onto a kitchen chair. “We’re nearly out of flour.”
    Elizabeth smiled. “Yes, in fact. He said he would pay us all tomorrow, and he’s including a bonus because we were able to get the hotel ready so much more quickly than he thought. He’s very pleased.”
    “Oh, that will be nice.”
    “I think we should celebrate. How should we celebrate, Mother? Maybe with one of your delicious cakes?”
    Agatha shook her head in disbelief. “It’s been so long since I’ve made one—I’m sure I’ve forgotten how.”
    “I doubt that. I doubt that very much.” Elizabeth lifted Rose to her shoulder and burped her. “I’ll go to the store on my way home tomorrow, and I’ll buy all the ingredients. And tea, and coffee, and everything else we need.”
    Agatha’s eyes lit up. “That will be wonderful.”
    Content with the knowledge that her mother and daughter would be cared for, Elizabeth rocked back and forth, her eyes growing heavy. She was awfully tired—the long days at the hotel were wearing her out. She blinked and sat up straight when her mother said, “It’s about time you headed back, isn’t it?”
    “You’re right. I think I dozed off for a minute.”
    Elizabeth changed Rose and laid her in the cradle, then gave her mother a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you tonight.”
    With just a few minutes to spare before she was supposed to be back at the hotel, Elizabeth mounted Cleophas and turned him toward the road. They started out at a nice canter, but suddenly, a gunshot rang out behind them, and Cleophas reared up on his hind legs. Elizabeth barely kept her seat, scrambling to grab the saddle horn and leaning as far forward as she could. Her hands trembled so badly, she almost couldn’t maintain her grip.
    As soon as all four of his hooves were on the ground again, Cleophas took off, galloping up the road. She bent down and grasped the reins close to the bit, pulling back and speaking in his ear, and he did slow down a little. But then another gunshot sounded, and he was off again.
    Elizabeth had been willing to believe that the first shot was an accident or the work of a hunter who didn’t realize how close he was to the road, but the second shot told her this was deliberate. Her heart pounded in her chest as she jounced along, completely at Cleophas’s mercy—he wouldn’t obey any of her commands.
    As they reached the small stand of trees along the way, two men stepped out of the shadows and held up their arms as if to slow down the horse. Was it any wonder that these were the same two men who had been pestering her? Any fear she might have felt was chased away and replaced by nothing but pure anger. Cleophas didn’t pay them any heed, but raced right past them, and she didn’t try to stop him that time.
    A short distance down the road, Cleophas threw a shoe, and came to a halt. Elizabeth slid